Panama. More than 248,000 migrants have crossed the Darién jungle this year, on the border between Panama and Colombia, a record number that exceeds the rates for all of 2022, the Panamanian government reported yesterday.
The region is 266 kilometers long and 575 thousand hectares in area; And from January 1 to July 30, 248,901 migrants crossed on their way to the United States, detailed the National Deputy Director of Migration of Panama, María Isabel Saravia.
So far this year, 617 more people have entered than in all of last year. More than half are Venezuelans, and in second place are Ecuadorians and Haitians, in addition to some 1,500 Chinese and more than 1,000 Cameroonians.
Of the total, 21 percent are minors, of which half are five years old or younger, added Saravia.
The migrants cross the area full of wild animals, mighty rivers and criminal organizations that rob them or demand payment to guide them.
The Panamanian authorities do not know the exact number of migrants who die on the journey due to the lack of complaints and the abandonment of the bodies, which sometimes end up being eaten by animals. In 2022 at least 52 people died in the jungle, according to official data.
The director of the International Federation of the Red Cross, Martha Keays, asserted that people “arrive injured, dehydrated, with severe allergic reactions and complications of pregnancy or chronic illnesses that can worsen in the thousands of kilometers they still have to get there. to his destiny”.
Panama’s Security Minister, Juan Manuel Pino, warned that, at this rate, the number of migrants who will cross the Darién in 2023 will reach 400,000.
On the other hand, in the center of New York, the Roosevelt Hotel, which serves as a shelter and processing center for asylum seekers, was overwhelmed like other facilities, so the surroundings are full of people who they sleep on the street.
New York is a sanctuary city that has taken in migrants that border state governments, led by Republicans, expel and send to Manhattan aboard buses and planes.
The situation for asylum seekers in NY worsens
New York Mayor Eric Adams’ office asserted that the situation will only get worse as more people arrive in the city, that he has a legal obligation to provide shelter to anyone who requests it, and that he is violating that demand by allowing there to be people on the streets. There are currently 50,000 migrants in shelters, but more than 93,000 have arrived since spring.
Adams insisted on his proposal to give migrants conditions so that they can reside and work regularly, to fill jobs in the fields and the food industry, and to integrate into the community.
Meanwhile, the Republican governor of Nebraska, Jim Pillen, announced the dispatch of 60 soldiers from the National Guard of his state to Texas in support of the operation. Lonely Star, from his Texan counterpart, Greg Abbott. West Virginia President Jim Justice sent 55 elements. And a few days ago, 50 members of the Oklahoma National Guard arrived in Texas.
Separately, police are looking for the driver who purposely ran over six migrant workers with a pickup truck in a Walmart parking lot in Lincolnton, North Carolina on Sunday, police said. The men were released from the hospital yesterday.
The victims of the run over were waiting for the bus that would take them to the crop field where they work. Security cameras made it clear that the driver of the van deliberately rammed them.
